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This document is a supportive paper for the M.F.A. Graduate Exhibition "Marking Time" held at the B. Carroll Reece Museum, East Tennessee State University, in fulfillment of the Master of Fine Arts degree. Within this paper, I discuss the subjective nature of my drawings and claim my role as a figurative humanist. Through drawing, I explore the emotive qualities of my own form. Rather than depicting actual spaces, I place myself in psychological spaces that reflect specific moods. Chiaroscuro creates an altered reality where visual tension is implicated through the physicality of my movements. This paper also briefly discusses the history of figurative expression, the figurative artists whose works embody this concept, and their influence on my work. An explanation of the individual drawings in the public exhibition is included in the paper. This document concludes with a personal reflection on my growth as an artist.

This paper will explore classical and contemporary methods of painting applied to the portrait. It will emphasize the metaphor of paint as flesh and the connotations of the breakdown of the painted form that stands in for flesh as it relates to our preoccupations with our own mortality. Borrowing from influences like Lucian Freud, Jenny Saville, and Francis Bacon, the artwork explores the creation of a form that is physical and confrontational, and is intended to provoke a psychological response in the viewer. This series of figuration bases its processes on traditional methods, while borrowing from modern art devices to interpret intangible human characteristics that clarify the representation of the subject and the moment being captured. The ultimate product of this two-fold approach is an image that is a tightly rendered representational portrait that simultaneously lends itself to gestural study.

This dissertation examines how breastfeeding mothers develop distinct geographies due to the stigma, symbolic and structural violence they encounter while breastfeeding if different spaces. I utilize multiple in-depth semi-structured interviews, participant observation and photo elicitation to develop portraits of four urban mothers. My findings highlight the complexity of motherhood and demonstrate how distinct socio-spatial power dynamics situate and contextualize the experiences of breastfeeding mothers. I find that breastfeeding behaviors are influenced and maintained by broader social inequalities related to their social positions. Mothers seem caught in a paradoxical position, in which they must constantly discipline their bodies to maintain modesty while simultaneously ensuring their continued success breastfeeding. These issues are compounded by a mother's intersecting identities and their own social and cultural contexts.

The intent of this study is to give credit to the female Renaissance painter, Sofonisba Anguissola of Cremona, Italy, for the amalgamation of the portrait and genre traditions in art. Anguissola indirectly influenced the Dutch artists of the Golden Age, who are now liberally assigned credit for the blending of the portraiture and genre painting styles in the· late seventeenth century. Her overlooked innovation affected genre and portrait paintings for centuries to come, consequently having a remarkable impact on the history of art. This study will clarify how Anguissola came about this revolutionary approach to painting and to demonstrate the manner in which her work was almost certainly filtered through the eyes and hands of subsequent genre and portrait artists. This study will elucidate these concepts through an investigation of her social environment, her innovations, her artistic training, and her seemingly inexorable limitations as a woman artist.

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This project explores the work of Hans Holbein the Younger, sixteenth-century printmaker and portraitist, through the lens of early modern physiognomic thought. This period's renewed interest in the discipline of physiognomy, the art and science of "reading" human features, reflects a desire to understand the relationship between outer appearances and inner substances of things. Physiognomic theory has a host of applications and meanings for the visual artist, who produces a surface representation or likeness, yet scholarship on this subject has been limited. Examining Holbein's social context and artistic practice, this project constructs the possibility of a physiognomic reading of several major works. Holbein's engagement with physiognomic theories of appearance and representation provides a vital point of access to early modern discourse on character, identity and self. / Art History

Eldora, Neethi and Seraphina are three young women who work as science interpreters at a large metropolitan museum. Each woman began her tenure at the age of 15, as part of an employment program for low-income and minority youth, and have since grown to become leaders within the program. Using autoethnography (Ellis, 2004) and portraiture (Lawrence-Lightfoot and Hoffman Davis, 1997), I explore the rich cultures and histories that each woman brings to her work, present stories that counter the dominant deficit narratives around diversity in informal science education, and reflect on connections to my own practice. Through a critical pedagogy framework (McLaren, 2009; Kincheloe, 2008), I analyze power and privilege within the institution, and the roles that race, language, and culture play in the dynamics of the workplace. This includes examination of workplace microaggressions, physical barriers to cross-cultural interaction, and technocratic ideologies that limit advancement and sense of belonging. From facing subtle acts of racism to taking on life-changing opportunities for growth, I examine the complex relationships that the women have with the institution, and explore ways that they are becoming agents of change. / Ph. D.

The emergence of Augustus and his restoration of the Roman Republic prompted innovations in public portraiture. Though statue portraits were common in the Roman Republic, those depicting females were incredibly rare. Under Augustus, women's portraiture found a more welcome place in public statuary. In the context of the plans for restoring the Republic, this dramatic break from tradition suggests propagandistic motivation. Propagandistic imagery flooded the empire in an attempt to assist the emperor in his ambitious reform goals. Many scholars believe, however, it was challenging to find fitting visual accompaniment for the social and cultural portion of those reforms. The core of this study focuses on the sculptural portraits of women that arose during this period of reformation, and sheds light on how they were used by Augustus and the Senate as visual expressions of their cultural renewal program. This thesis examines the messages hidden within the formal style, iconography and details of portraiture of mortal Roman women. By exploring the various ways these new art works were used, such as demonstration, of normative behavior, display of proper virtue and ideals, and promotion of the marital and procreation legislation, a more comprehensive analysis of the image of the Roman woman in the age of Augustan restoration is possible.